CALA Southeast Chapter 2016 Fall Program

Dear colleagues,

I’m happy to share with you the CALA Southeast Chapter’s first program for fall, 2016. It will be held in one of the most beautiful campuses in Florida and in the US, Rollins College. This is one of a series of programs to be organized by our chapter. A big thank you to Wenxian Zhang, Professor, Head of Archives & Special Collections, Rollins College, for hosting this event and giving an exciting talk on his research on images related to China. We’d also like to thank Zhao Liu from The Elling O. Eide Charitable Foundation for sharing her library’s collections and her work there. We’re still calling for speakers for the Lightning Round Talks (each 10 minutes). The conference will have online capability, so even if you cannot attend it on site, you can join it online (the online conference url will be shared later). Please reply to this message if you’re interested in presenting and/or attending.

Wenxian Zhang, Professor, Head of Archives & Special Collections, Rollins College

China through American Eyes:

Depictions of the Chinese People and Culture in the US Print Media of the Late 19th Century.

Cultural understanding between the United States and China has been a long and complex process. The period from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century is not only a critical era in modern Chinese history, but also the peak time of illustrated news reporting in the United States. Besides images from newspapers and journals, this study will present pictures about China and the Chinese published in books, brochures, commercial advertisements, campaign posters, postcards, etc. Together, they have documented colorful portrayals of the Chinese and their culture by the U.S. print media and their evolution from ethnic curiosity, stereotyping, and racial prejudice to social awareness, reluctant understanding, and eventual acceptance. This collection of images has essentially formed a rich visual resource that is both diverse and intriguing; and as primary source documents, they carry significant historical and cultural values that could stimulate further academic research.

Schedule:

1:15-1:30 Arriving (Guests will be greeted in front of the Olin Library and directed to the conference room)

Parking: Please go directly to the College Parking Garage between Lyman and Comstock Avenues, and walk across Fairbanks to campus and toward Olin Library, which will only take about five minutes. Please take the parking ticket with you, so that Wenxian Zhang, Head of Archives & Special Collections at Rollins College can validate in the library for free parking when you leave. Here are both its interactive campus map and printable PDF, and Olin Library is #235. For onsite attendees, if you want to carpool, or need help in parking, please call 407-412-0001 in advance.